Product Description
The Education of Henry Adams records the struggle of Bostonian Henry Adams (1838-1918), in early old age, to come to terms with the dawning 20th century, so different from the world of his youth. It is also a sharp critique of 19th century educational theory and practice. In 1907, Adams began privately circulating copies of a limited edition printed at his own expense. Commercial publication had to await its author’s 1918 death, whereupon it won the 1919 Pulitzer Pr… More >>
#1 by Anonymous on January 30, 2010 - 12:09 pm
I can’t get any more descriptive than that…it put me to sleep faster than Whitman.
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by JOHN GODFREY on January 30, 2010 - 12:45 pm
That much is evident from the beginning I started out with
high expectations & was disappointed. I’m glad I listened to the tape rather than try to read it or I would have pitched it early. He was also a bore which explains why he had less of a social life than he wanted & what you’d expect from the grandson of John Quincy Adams. He was neurotic, that being the one of the family traditions he followed. He also had an inferiority complex. For good reason I’d say. For all the advantages he had, the name, a Harvard education, a position as a clerk for his father, in London, during the Civil War & the fact apparently that he didn’t have to work very hard… ever, he was basically lazy. History is my avocation. I guess Adams was a historian, & writer. I got nothing from this book & its endless ramblings seem to get worse towards the end. No education.
Rating: 2 / 5
#3 by Tracey on January 30, 2010 - 2:10 pm
This book was so slow and boring, I couldn’t stand to finish it. Henry Adams was just another modernist author who was unsatisfied with his life in the world of the wealthy elite. I couldn’t identify with him at all. He just seemed to be another wealthy stuck up man, at times bored and disturbed by the unfulfilling and superficial life he led. I wouldn’t recommend this to someone who’s not ready for a long, slow read.
Rating: 1 / 5
#4 by John A. Lefcourte on January 30, 2010 - 2:15 pm
I acquired this book in high school or college and never read it. I kept it around because it appears on lists of must read books. God knows why, the footnotes are an interesting chronology of american history but Adam’s false humility, while name-dropping references to art, literature, economics,politics, statesmen,etc. but never discussing any of these areas becomes extremely tedious. I struggled through to the end but never could discover a reason to read the book or a reason why the book is touted so highly as necessary to be truly “educated”. Adams, himself, would have been a fascinating person to know but he is a collossal bore to read.
Rating: 1 / 5
#5 by Anonymous on January 30, 2010 - 4:41 pm
If you want to learn more about 19th century America, look no further
Rating: 5 / 5